Fuel-feeding device for furnaces.



c. J. GREENSTREEI FUEL FEEDING DEVICE FOR FURNACES.

APPLICATION rum) MAR.20, 1914. 1,132,715. Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEBT-i.

G. J. GREENSTREET.

FUEL FEEDING DEVICE FOR FURNACES. APPLICATION FILED MAILZO, 1914.

Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

59777265565. K?WfW alwy W 7 e 6 Q) f G. J. GREENSTRBET.

FUEL FEEDING DEVIGHFOR FURNACES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 20, 1914. 1,132,715.

Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

II I" H I 0. J; GREENSTREET.. FUEL FEEDING DEVICE FOR FURNACES.

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Patented Mar. 23,1915,

@zxwzw APPLICATION FILED MAR: 20, 1914. 1, 1 32,71 5

Z7%I'E x WW CHARLES JASON GREENSTREET, F WEBSTER GROVES, MISSOURI.

FUEL-FEEDING DEVICE FOR FURNACES. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 23', 1915.

Application filed March 20, 1914. Serial N 0. 826,002.

1 To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. GREEN- STREET, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Webster Groves. in the county of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Fuel-Feeding Devices for. Furnaces, of which the following is a specification.-

This invention relates particularly to devices for feeding coal dust and small particles of coal to furnaces of all kinds.

The object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for feeding such fuel and suitably commingling it with air, whereby it may be conducted to a furnace in the form of a combustible fluid.

Heretofore, efforts have been made to devise apparatus for utilizing coal dust or comminuted particles of coal as a. fuel for furnaces; but such devices have been unsatisfactory except in extensive plants. The device of my invention is peculiarly adapted to provide a uniform feed of comminuted fuel to a fire box of limited capacity, whether the fire-box is stationary or installed upona traveling vehicle; and this peculiar adaptability is due to the simplicity of the device. the small number of parts employed, and the storage. conveyanceand discharge of the powdered fuel by means of apparatus capable of close regulation through a wide range. By means of this invention, the combustible mixture is always subject to exact control, which prevents the irregular combustion and intermittent explosions incident to the use of comminuted fuel and which sometimes cause accidental premature ignition of the highlv combustible product; and hence the invention eliminates the clanger of explosion which has heretofore been a deterrent to the use of such fuel in traveling vehicles.

In the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification. and wherein like parts are designated by like symbols inthe several views, Figure 1 is a side elevation ofapparatus embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a rear end view of said apparatus; Fig; 3 is a side elevation of the fuel measuring and. feeding device drawn to a larger scale than Figs. 1 and 2; Fig. 4 is a vertical cross-section of the fuel feeding device on the line 44 of Fig. 3, looking from the front of the device; Fig. 5 is a similar crosssection on the line 55 of Fig. 3; and Fig. 6

is a vertical longitudinal section of the device shown in Fig. 3 on the line 66 of Fig. 4:, looking in the direction of the arrows.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the draw- 1ngs, the apparatus comprises a fuel measuring and feeding device 11 having a discharge chute 12 for conducting the fuel into the intake duct 13 of the fan blower 14. The outlet duct 15 of the blower leads to a suitable nozzle or fuel opening in the fire box or furnace. The fuel measuring and feeding device 11 is supplied with ogniminuted fuel from a hopper 16 or other suitable means through an opening in its top, and

its driving pulley 17 may be rotated from any suitable source of power.

The fuel feeding and measuring device comprises a casing having in its upper part a chamber 18 forming a fuel receiving re; ceptacle, and in its lower part a chamber 19 for the fuel measuring, feeding and regulatmg mechanism. The bottom part of the upper chamber projects into the lower chamber and is fitted with sliding bottom doors or gates 20. which are adjustable horizontally to regulate the width of the opening between them. Rods 21 are secured to the bottom doors 20 and extend through the side walls of the casing for moving the bottom doors. The extremities of these rods are threaded and screwed into the threaded sleeves or ring nuts 22 which are grooved around the outside and mounted in brackets 23 secured on the outside of the casing. The sleeves 22 areknurled or roughened on the periphery to facilitate turning them by hand. Hence the position of the bottom doors can be readilv adjusted, and the doors Will remain in adjusted position without further clamping means being required.

Spaced below the adjustable doors is a fixed bottom 24 for the fuel receptacle 18, and the ends of the fixed bottom project beyond the end walls 25 of the fuel receptacle. Elongated openings-26 are left beneath the end walls 25 immediately above the fixed wise of the bottom for the chains to run in,-

so that. the lower edges of the flights scrape along .on the fixed bottom. The vertical width of theflights is slightly less than the vertical dimension of the space between the bottom doors .20 and fixed bottom 24. A

casing, and is provided with adjusting nuts '32 for fixingit in adjusted position. By adjusting the position of the slide the rate of delivery of the fuel by the conveyer can be regulated to a nicety.

The convey'er chains 27 pass oversprocket wheels 33 rotatably mounted near the ends of the chamber 19 on shafts 34, journaled in the side walls of the casing. One of the I shafts 34 projects through the side wall of the casing and carries a toothed gear 35. Meshing with the gear wheel 35 is a toothed pinion 36, which is mounted on the end of a shaft 37 which is journaled in the side walls of the casing. The shaft 37 extends clear through the casing and its opposite end carries the driving pulley 17, whereby the moving parts of the device are continu'ously actuated. It is found that if the speed of the driving pulley and the sizes of the gears and sprockets are such as to cause the conveyer to move at a speed of from about three to eight feet per minute, satisfactory results are secured.

About midway across the fuel receptacle an oscillating shaft 38 is journaled in the side walls of the casing. One end of this shaft projects through the side wall and carries a downwardly extending lever arm 39 which is rigidly secured to the rocking shaft. The lower end of the lever arm 39 is connected to a link 40 by a pivot pin, and theother end of the link is journaled on a crank pin on the outside of the gear wheel 35, whereby each rotation of the gear wheel .causes the foscillatingshaft to oscillate back and forth through a small angle. The oscillating. shaft carrhes two double arms 41 or blades which are rigidly fixed thereto, one

' .onea chside of the longitudinal center line of the fuel receptacle, and which continuimsly oscillate back and forth in vertical planes .on each side of the opening between the bottom doors. These moving blades prevent the fuel from arching over the bottam opening, and insure a. continuous flow ..movement of the conveyer.

.chargeend of the fixed bottom is an opening bf fuel onto the fixed bottom.

'- The fixed bottom 24 is somewhat longer than the fuel receptacle 18, and its" discharge end projects from beneath the bot tom doors some" distance in the direction of Below the .dis-

in the vbottom of thecasing which leads to terminates below the top wall of the intake.

An air valve 43 is fitted to the end of the intake duct removed from the blower, for

controlling the amount of air drawn be-J neath the lower edge 42 of the inclined chute. An opening 44in the rear end wall of the chamber 19 admits air beneath the fixed bottom which commingles with the falling fuel as it is discharged from the front end of the latter into the chute 12. The width of the opening 44 can be adjusted by means of a slide 45 moved by a screw 46 which is mounted in'the bracket 4? on the rear wall of the chamber 19. By turning the screw 46, the-amount of air entering the chamber 19 through theopening 44 canbe controlled.

In the operation of the device the fuel, which is in the form of powder or finely. divided particles, is fed to the receptacle 18 by any suitable means, and the blower and conveyer are set in motion. The bottom doors of the fuel receptacle are adjusted until the opening between them is sufiicient to permit an unbroken column or stream of fuel to pass through onto the fixed bottom '24. The fuel does not fall freely, but it is checked by the fixed bottom, where it spreads out somewhat below the bottom doors in a loose pile. The pile of fuel on thefixed bottom is kept continuously moving by the flights, and this movement tends to spread the fuel sidewise and keep it from becoming packed hard by the weight of the fuel in the'r receptacle above "the bottom doors. The projecting discharge end of the fixed bottom permits still further-loosening up of the fuel being carried along by the flights,- as there is no column of fuel above this portion of the bottom to pack the moving fuel pile. The inclined lower wall of the chute 12 tends to retard slightly the fuel striking it near its top, thus stringing out and equalizing the flow of fuel into the in-i take duct.

The width of the fuel pile on the fixed bottom can be controlled by the width of the opening between the bottom doors, and its thickness can be controlled by the vertical.

adjustment of the slide 29. Small changes.

by varying the vertical adjustment of the;

slide Changes in the amount of air may be made by. adju ting either he air alve 4 'in the intake duct 13, or the slide on the the weight of the fuel in the receptacle andprevent changes therein from causing more or less dense packing of the fuel on the. fixed bottom.

It is evident from the preceding description of the invention that it is not restricted to the exact form of the parts and arrangements thereof as shown in the drawings accompanying this specification;- but the device shown and described herein is representative of the invention.

I claim the following as my invention:

1. A device for feeding comminuted fuel comprising a fuel storage receptacle with a bottom opening and a wide fixed bottom spaced below said opening, said bottom being of greater width than said opening whereby the fuel is banked up to fill said opening without covering said bottom, and means for moving fuel lengthwise on said fixed bottom, said fixed bottom projecting beyond said fuel receptacle inthe direction of movement of said fuel moving means and,

constituting an open trough wherein the compacted fuel is loosened.

2. A device for feeding comminuted fuel comprising a fuel storage receptacle with a bottom opening and a wide fixed bottom spaced below said opening, means for varying the width of said opening, said bottom being of greater width than the greatest width of said opening, and means for moving fuel lengthwise on said fixed botto'm,

said fixed bottom projecting beyond said fuel receptacle in the direction of movement of said fuel moving means and constituting an open trough wherein the compacted fuel is loosened.

I 3. ,A. device for feeding comminuted fuelcomprising a fuel storage receptacle with a bottom opening, a wide flat discharge surface of greater width than the greatest width of said bottom opening, said surface being below said bottom opening, means for moving fuel along said discharge surface, and a transversely arranged duct below the discharge end of said surface, said duct having an inclined lower wall sloping downwardly from one extremity of the discharge end of said surface to beyond the other extremity thereof whereby masses of fuel falling intermittently sidewise oil of the end of said discharge surface are transformed into a continuous stream.

4. A device for feeding comminuted fuel comprising a fuel storage receptacle with a. wide fixed bottom and elongated transverse openings at its ends, one of the ends of said bottom being extended beyond said recep-.

tacle to form a flat discharge surface, means.

for moving fuel along said discharge surface, and a transversely arranged duct below the discharge end of said surface, said duct having an inclined lower wall sloping 4 downwardlv from one extremity of the discharge end of said surface to beyond the i other extremity thereof whereby masses of fuel falling intermittently sidewise off of the end of said discharge surface are transformed into a continuous stream.

5. A device for feeding comminuted fuel comprising a fuel storage receptacle having a discharge opening lengthwise of its bottom, the bottom of said receptacle being longer than its top and its end Walls diverging downwardly, means below said opening for checking the fiow of fuel through said opening, means for moving the fuel below said opening lengthwise thereof, and means above said opening having movement lengthwise thereof whereby the fuel is prevented from bridging over said opening.

Signed at St. Louis, Missouri, this 17th day of March, 191-1.

CHARLES JASON GREENSTREET.

Witnesses:

AMASA M. HOLCOMBE, MARTHA A. 'SHELTON. 

